New

January 01, 2012

Here's my little glance at 1912. I'm telling you right now, in case you didn't already know this, but this year is going to get a lot more look backs than usual because it marks the one hundredth anniversary of a couple of famous events: the disastrous end of Robert Falcon Scott's South Pole expedition; the sinking of the Titanic; and Theodore Roosevelt's last stand as the candidate for his own progressive Bull Moose party (note: at that time Bull Moose probably didn't sound like such a non-starter of a name considering it was only about a hundred years since the days of parties called "Know-Nothings" and "Free Soil").Oh, and welcome to the Union, Arizona and New Mexico.

I wish I could figure out how to do links within a post so you could jump directly to your topic of interest, but I haven't been able to find out how to do that, if it's even possible. The best I can do is give you this little non-linking table of contents so you at least have some idea of the order of things.

December 25, 2011

I approached my annual list with some chagrin, as one of my many disasters of 2011 was not reading nearly as much as I would have liked. What I did read, though, was more than worthy. If you haven't read any of these, I hope you will. And here's to hoping for better things--including many more great books--in 2012.

(Note: This list is NOT limited to books published in 2011--it includes any book I read during this calendar year, regardless of the publication date.)

As so often happens, the final order was tough to determine--you could rearrange the top four any way and I probably wouldn't argue. They're all worthwhile.

9. In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson - A look at the rise of the Nazis in the early days of Hitler's rule, from the perspective of the American ambassador's family. A different take on the period.

8.Moonwalking with Einstein, by Joshua Foer - The art and science of memory, as investigated by Foer during his yearlong preparation for the US Memory Competition. Can we improve our memory and should we bother? The answers may surprise you.

7. The Floor of Heaven, by Howard Blum - A ripping yarn about the scallywags, scoundrels, and seekers who battled to find gold in the Yukon. The book features a cast of charactes that seem to come straight from an early 1900s pulp cowboy novel, people whose own accounts of their adventures may or may not be quite true. And that's what makes it so fun.

6. 1861, by Adam Goodheart A lot--a LOT--has been written about the Civil War, but Goodheart manages to dig up some people and events from the first year of the conflict that are less familiar. A really fascinating read.

5. To End All Wars, by Adam Hochschild - Hochschild's focus is on the British pacifists who refused to blindly wave a flag in favor of the nation's participation in World War I. However, it's also an excellent introduction to the war itself, and great reading for anyone, dove or hawk.

3. Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff - The known facts about Cleopatra seemingly add up to a few scraps of paper, but Schiff, a wizard of research and synthesis, brings the legendary queen into focus by drawing out the details of the world around her. Just brilliant and compulsively readable.

1. Contested Will, by James Shapiro - Many people have tried to prove the identity of the "real" Shakespeare, but Shapiro tackles a much more fascinating topic: why people feel a need to find a "real" Shakespeare, and how their choices for that person reflect different era. A very instructive book about how we create history and how easy it is to get it all wrong. I loved this book.

In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson http://superpupsays.typepad.com/superpup_says/2011/11/a-foreign-affair.html A look at the rise of the Nazis in the early days of Hitler's rule, from the perspective of

the American ambassador's family. A different take on the period.

Moonwalking with Einstein, by Joshua Foer http://superpupsays.typepad.com/superpup_says/2011/10/forget-it.html The art and science of memory, as investigated by Foer during his yearlong preparation for

the US Memory Competition. Can we improve our memory and should we bother? The answers may surprise you.

The Floor of Heaven, by Howard Blum http://superpupsays.typepad.com/superpup_says/2011/06/the-midas-touch.html A ripping yarn about the scallywags, scoundrels, and seekers who battled to find gold

in the Yukon. The book features a cast of charactes that seem to come straight from an early 1900s pulp cowboy novel, people whose own accounts of their adventures may or may not be quite true. And

that's what makes it so fun.

1861, by Adam Goodheart A lot--a LOT--has been written about the Civil War, but Goodheart manages to dig up some people and events from the first year of the conflict that are less familiar. A really

fascinating read.

To End All Wars, by Adam Hochschild http://superpupsays.typepad.com/superpup_says/2011/10/the-fighters.html Hochschild's focus is on the British pacifists who refused to blindly wave a flag in favor of

the nation's participation in World War I. However, it's also an excellent introduction to the war itself, and great reading for anyone, dove or hawk.

Moby Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them, by Donovan

Hohn http://superpupsays.typepad.com/superpup_says/2011/06/youre-the-one.html When Hohn hears about a shipment of toy rubber ducks that were lost at sea during a storm in the Pacific, he becomes

fascinated by the image of a fleet of the familiar child's toy floating on the waves on some mysterious journey. He sets off to find out what happened to them and stumbles into a world of warring environmental

activists, Chinese toy manufacturers, salty sea captains, wave experts, and ocean garbage fans. The mild-mannered Hohn has more than a few "What did I get myself into?" moments, but luckily for us, he

never quits until all his questions are answered.

Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff http://superpupsays.typepad.com/superpup_says/2011/06/river-queen.html The known facts about Cleopatra seemingly add up to a few scraps of paper, but Schiff, a wizard

of research and synthesis, brings the legendary queen into focus by drawing out the details of the world around her. Just brilliant and compulsively readable.

The Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, by Candice Millard http://superpupsays.typepad.com/superpup_says/2011/11/bad-medicine.html The brilliant Ms.

Millard does it again, using her science background to make the assassination of President James Garfield come to vivid (almost too vivid) life. She also shows us what an accomplished man Garfield was in

life, leaving us (or at least me) to wonder what kind of president we may have lost. His pathetic, mad assassin, James Guiteau, also is clearly drawn. It's just a wonderfully written book.

Contested Will, by James Shapiro http://superpupsays.typepad.com/superpup_says/2011/06/ghost-writer.html Many people have tried to prove the identity of the "real" Shakespeare, but Shapiro tackles a

much more fascinating topic: why people feel a need to find a "real" Shakespeare, and how their choices for that person reflect different era. A very instructive book about how we create history and how easy

December 16, 2011

Michael Holroyd's A Book of Secrets: Illegititmate Daughters, Absent Fathers tells of a number of personalities from the first few decades of the 20th century. It starts with Ernest Beckett, aka Lord Grimthorpe (don't worry if you haven't heard of him), a member of the British aristocracy who had a talent for knocking up attractive women. His lovers, wives, and illegitimate daughters are the main focus of the story, which culminates in the romance between Beckett's daughter Violet Keppel (later Trefussis) and Vita Sackville-West, plus a guest appearance by Vita's more famous lover, Virginia Woolf. The secondary storyline deals with Eve, one of Beckett's mistresses who spent most of her life drifting from house to house as a genteelly impoverished guest. She carried with her a book and asked everyone she met to write or draw something in it. The book grew larger and bulkier, and Eve poorer and more eccentric, until she finally is left with nothing but her book in an old age home for the poor.

Holroyd ties everyone together neatly, while also weaving in the story of his fascination with all the Beckett connections, which comes from his connection to an Italian villa owned by Lord Grimthorpe at one time. Along the way he brings in other modern day characters, such as a woman who is convinced she's another illegitimate Grimthorpe and desperately wants to know the truth, and a scholar who passionately believes that Violet's literary contributions have been desperately overlooked and should be rediscovered by a new generation.

The book is often entertainingly gossipy; Holroyd scatters many apt quotes throughout the story from his many subjects (who were not shy about spilling their guts in letters). It's elegantly written. I read it quickly. The reviews have been glorious, calling the book brilliant and a landmark in biography writing, the pinnacle of a glorious career for Mr. Holroyd. I liked it, but didn't love it. I admired it, but wasn't dazzled by it. I'm not sure why--I think I felt sometimes like, "Why am I reading about these people?" especially the ones from the present day. I just didn't care about any of them. I guess I still would recommend it, though--maybe I just wasn't in the right mood. And like I said, the craftsmanship is impeccable, so you can at least read it to observe that. May you like it better than me.

This will be the last book I write about for the year, I suspect. My nine best list will be coming soon. I know, you can't wait, can you?